per diem?

Prophet

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what does "per diem" mean? In reference to an er-tech position I saw posted.
 

akflightmedic

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No guaranteed hours.

You could work three shifts a week or you could work no shifts. It also means you do not get any benefits.

Typically, they fill in the holes on their schedules with per diem people. You have no say in what days or shifts you are working. Your only say is yes or no.

Per diem people are usually paid a slightly higher wage as the employer is saving money by not paying you benefits and not paying overtime to the full time employees.
 

princessretard

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per diem means as needed or when needed. so you dont really have any hours set. you just pick up hours for the week.
 

goodgrief

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DrParasite

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You could work three shifts a week or you could work no shifts. It also means you do not get any benefits.

Typically, they fill in the holes on their schedules with per diem people. You have no say in what days or shifts you are working. Your only say is yes or no.
That isn't true.

most places that have per diems require you to submit your availability, and they will assign you where they have openings. they are also asked about open shifts first before they get offered to full timers as overtime.

In a perfect world, per diems would be used to cover full timers when they want time off. in reality, employees will use per diems to cover full time openings since per diems are cheaper than hiring a new full timer.
 

Aidey

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^^^ It is.
 

TransportJockey

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It's also known as PRN (per required need)
 

mcdonl

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As you can see it means many things to many people, with the constant being that you do not have a guaranteed permanent position.

At the department I "volly" for, I only volunteer at night. On the weekends I pull 12 hour shifts as a Per Diem. Many small town fire departments have a mixed setup like this now so that there is a paid professional who can roll the unit in 2 minutes but can still maintain a volunteer force.

At the hospital I work for it simply means you get no benefits (But higher pay) and they can just call you and say thanks but no thanks. My wife is a per diem at the hospital and often makes $3-$5 more an hour than those with benefits. Not biggee, as our bennies don't get better by us both carrying them.

Go for it, a job is a job.
 

fortsmithman

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Here in the Northwest Territories that's known as being a casual employee. At the local corrections centre about half the Corrections Officers there are casual employees.
 

TransportJockey

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"As required" is the basic functional meaning, but PRN is actually Latin and means "pro re nata")

Thanks for the correction :) I guess my old hospital HR was just lazy cause they spelled out PRN as what I posted :p
 
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